We are interested in knowing if any of you vets or spouses out there in Cybespace have any experience with the array of alteranative treatment modalities for PTSD. EMDR, Bio-Feedback, Guided Meditions, Peer Groups, the VA EBTU program, Sweat Lodges, Spiritual Retreats. What has worked for you or someone you know? Or what would you like to know about these methods?
5 thoughts on “Alternative Treatment Progrms for PTSD”
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Being an eclectic kinda’ guy has ultimately pulled me though to this point. I’ve dealt with PTSD since returning from Viet Nam in the early ’70s and have only recently received an official VA diagnosis and increased disability for it. Over the years, I tried spiritual and personal development routes, including a short stint with Scientology and several levels of traditional counseling. Also had a few bouts with too much drink, pot and other numbing substances. I’ve done meditation and exercise, as well as variations of bio-feedback, sweat lodges and even a 12-step program.
It’s been a path of self discovery that has finally led to some stability in my life, one piece at a time. I think one advantage I’ve had through it all is that I’ve been able to retreat into myself with minimal lashing out at others, in spite of being pissed off much of the time. Although I’m one to learn in groups, I’m not really a group participant and do better at taking away bits and pieces of helpful advice and experiences and storing them for later access.
An understanding extended family, in my case, has also been beneficial. I’ve got an uncle in the mid-West that I seldom see but every single time we do get together, he always asks about how I’m doing with all that. Very non-judgmental. It’s been a good example to follow, as well as good therapy. Other family members, too, have shown their support over the years in various ways. You can’t discount love as a healing salve.
So nice to see there are others who have tasted of the smorgasbord of healing. PTSD is like a wormhole between two worlds. I am not sure there are any remedial interventions that will permanently soothe that dark night of the soul. It is as if PTS flows like a river beneath all waking consciousness, and structured approaches. Yet it is all so a door to a spiritual realm. I think that is the irony of the whole condition, is that it eventually leads you away from the material world. Some people attend seminars for years to get to that state of mind! To have family that understand is huge. So few do. You gotta wonder what it would have been like if we really understood our WWll parents, of whom, many were repressed for years. Lt Col. David Grossman who taught at the Army War College states that the Psychiatric Casualty rate during WWll was 26%. Vietnam was 3%! Shocker eh? It is because the Nam Combat Vet had such superior training in warfare. But then that figure went to 34% after the War. The mid-70’s early 80’s were the worst, until the advent of the Vet Centers, that have been salvation to many.
Keep that love flowing!
I come to your site because it keeps me entertained and aware of new things.
To me, the spiritual realm, as you call it, is only a small part of the healing puzzle. One of the best things I ever did, early on, was to literally head for the hills, as spending time alone or with my dog in the desert or mountains was very grounding. I don’t know how everyone defines “material world” but I found nature to be comforting. I never resorted to buying things for comfort, if that is what you mean by the material world.
I’ve also grown weary of many spiritual people. Not all by any means, but the vast majority in my experience have a very limited world view and are ultimately judgmental about everything that isn’t them.
In a way, those of us on a winding path to self discovery are indeed fortunate to have exposure to a wide swath of experiences.
Another difference between WWII vets and those serving in Viet Nam is that the prior group returned to a caring country. When my medivac plane landed at an Air Force base in the states, we taxied to the far end of the tarmac and just stayed there until they finally came to get us off. The Donut Dollys finally brought us some warm soda after an hour or so. I think the military didn’t want the new guys awaiting their flight in the terminal building to see us. So I’m glad that now there is at least an awareness of the true nature of PTSD and there are mechanisms in place to get started on that path.
You are so right about the well intentioned “spiritual buccaneers” who are frequently projecting low self esteem. One of my pals in California referred to it as “messy evangelism” that can often be vacant on the love scale. Henry David Thoreau, put it aptly when he said,” if someone came to my front door to do me some good, I would be high tailing it out the back!” And of course he was a nature lover. Yes, it is nature I am referring to in speaking of the non-material. Yet in many ways nature, the outback, where I too spend alot of time, is really the true material world. As soon as you hit the City limits most everything is fabricated.